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When it comes to raising funds for your business, having a good pitch deck is a very crucial component. An impressive pitch deck not only excites potential investors but also engages them in conversations that eventually lead to investment.

Remember, if you are unable to grab the attention of investors in the first instance, you might fail to persuade them. As an entrepreneur, you need to be ready to showcase your strengths when they question you, know everything about your team and come up with a good business plan.

Most investors usually check whether you are confident or not. They want to confirm if you have the potential to do all that you had promised. Your goal should be to spark interest so that they can ask for more.

Here are 10 slides that you must include in a pitch deck when raising funds.

Target Market and the Problem Faced

One of the first things that investors will check is whether you have some knowledge about your target group. Start by convincing them that you've done your groundwork and you have the right knowledge. Talk about the problem and what you've done to solve it. Also, tell them what can be done to solve it further.

Although it's tempting to try to define your market as big as possible you need to be very careful. Just be specific.

Vision and Value Proposition

In this slide, you should tell the investors why you are much better than others. Start by outlining their limitations and then go ahead and state your unique selling proposition and value proposition that make you different and better than all of them.Just make sure that you keep it short and simple. However, make sure that your comparison is understandable. Your model must be similar to the business you are trying to compare it to.

Problem

Instead of creating products that are meant to solve real problems, many startups usually focus on the temporary market with a goal of making some quick cash. Since the problem is a very important asset, you need to make the investor feel the pain.

At this stage, you can even use storytelling and apply personal experiences just to ensure that it's punchy and visual.

You can engage the investors and ask them how they feel about this problem. Rather than giving them too much information, just make them understand how bad this problem is and how no one is currently taking care of it.

Solution and the Product

Make sure that the product that you present is able to provide the solution. Try to convince them that your product can solve the stated problem efficiently and effectively.

Although you might be tempted to move this slide to the beginning of your pitch deck, avoid this when raising funds. Instead of focusing a lot on your product, think about the customers and the kind of problems that they face.

If possible, use stories and pictures to tell a better story. Showing how something will work is better than telling.

Competition

Most investors also want to know whether you know about your competition. You, therefore, need to keep a keen eye on your competition, know their recent activities, their USPs and other important factors related to them.

You can then summarize the information in the form of Venn diagrams and tables. Make sure you describe how you fit in the market and what makes you different from other alternatives and competitors who are in the market.

The key to this slide is to explain how you're different and why customers would rather choose you.

Revenue Model

Regardless of how good your market model is, what matters is whether it has enough potential for the future.

Make sure you talk about your potential revenue streams and how much you'll be able to generate from your business.

You can also talk about the competitive landscape and explain how the pricing strategy will fit in the market. Ask yourself whether you are high price offering, premium or budget offering that will undercut the current solutions available in the market.

Tractions and Validations

What have you achieved with your model so far, are you generating any revenue? Do you have any top partnerships or clients that you can show?

If you already have some sales then you need to talk about this What investors want to see is whether your business is capable of reducing some aspect of risk.

You can also discuss your milestones and some of the goals that you've managed to achieve.

A company or roadmap that talks about key milestones are very important here.

Team

In this slide, ask yourself why you are the right team to grow this company. Do you have unique experiences that others don't have? You need to highlight the main team members and the key skills that they have Even if you are yet to assemble your team, identify some of the positions that you need to fill and why they are important for the company.

Don't forget to include your past experience and some of the projects that you've handled before.

Marketing and sales strategy

Talk about your sales process and how you are planning to capture your customers' attention. Make sure you outline your sales and marketing plan. Talk about the main tactics that you want to use to push the products in front of the customers.

Remember, for any business startup finding and winning customers is perhaps one of the hardest things. If you have a different sales and marketing process then you need to highlight it here.

Financials

Conclude your pitch deck by stating what you require in terms of financials. Briefly mention some of your sources of finance and what you expect going forward. Investors will want to have a look at your sales focus, loss statement, profit, and cash flow for the last three years.

However, while doing this try and be realistic. You should be ready to discuss all the assumptions that you've made to arrive at your goals

Conclusion

These are the slides that you must include in your pitch deck as an entrepreneur when raising funds.

Once you are done with this, it's time to request for money.

The most important reason why you are doing this pitch deck is to get a funding. You need to clearly explain why you need the money and how you plan to spend it. Most investors would want to know how their cash will be spent and whether it will help you in achieving your business goals.

If you already have some investors on board then this is the right time to talk with them. Remember, your pitch is everything you need hence make sure you do your best.